Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an example of an interface “Standard” that defines the cables, connectors and communications protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between a “host” electronic device (such as a personal computer) or “hub” and various peripheral electronic devices such as keyboards, pointing devices, digital cameras, printers, portable media players, disk drives, network adapters, smartphones, and video game consoles.
Conventional USB interfaces uses electrical connectors and cables (with electrical wires) to interface from the host (alternatively a hub) device to peripheral devices. The connectors are mechanical in nature, and may wear down and eventually fail after repeated use. The existing mechanical connectors, which may be physically different for the host and peripheral devices, use electrical signaling contacts to communicate (transfer, transport data signals) from one device to another. These connectors must engage one another completely in order to ensure a good connection. The electrical signaling is also not ideal as it has many discontinuities in the wiring through the connector and wiring associated with the cable. This imposes an inherent limit on the speed of USB and increases the power budget for successfully transmitting signal over a significant distance. The length of a USB cable is practically limited (by cable delays, etc.) to approximately 5 meters. Power may be supplied via the USB connectors and cables to “bus-powered” peripheral devices. Current draw from the bus is normally limited to 100 mA or 500 mA.